Chapter 13 - Jālandhara Disguised as Śiva Goes to Pārvatī

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Nārada said:

1-3. Then hearing the din of the demons on the battlefield, Jālandhara, seated in a chariot, came where Śiva was. Angrily and quickly he spoke to his charioteer Khaḍgaroman: “Send forth quickly the chariot to which a thousand horses are yoked. I shall bravely kill that ascetic, adorned with matted hair, sacred ash and bones. What is the power of the crippled one mounted on the bull in the battle with me?”

Nārada said:

4-6. Speaking like this to Khaḍgaroman the haughty (Jālandhara) took his fierce bow and quickly ran to (the battlefield) in his chariot. Vīrabhadra checked him who was coming (there) with sharp arrows. With his body made breathless, he covered him with arrows. Though (Vīrabhadra) the attendant of the lord of beings (i.e. Śiva) was equal to the gods, yet can the skulls attain similarity with the moon?

7-9. Maṇibhadra also pierced the Ocean’s son (Jālandhara). He having killed Maṇibhadra by a noose said to the lord (i.e. Śiva): “O Mahādeva, if you have the practice in (wielding) weapons, then come to fight (with me). You strike me. In the battle I shall not strike you having matted hair.” Him who was proudly speaking like this, Vīrabhadra, who was angry, covered with arrows, as the sun covers a lotus with his rays.

10-13. Then Maṇibhadra hit his army with a mace. O hero, striking a chariot after a chariot, a horse after a horse, an elephant after an elephant, he knocked them down on the earth. In a moment, the ground was tawny due to the mud-like blood and became difficult to walk over; and the chief attendants (of Śiva) struck down the demons from the mountain in the battle. The brave demons dropped dead on the ground. O king, the demons (thus) fell (on the ground) and the ground was full of (their) trunks, arms, heads, and the backs and trunks and thighs of the elephants.

Nārada said:

14-17. In this way he saw that Śiva was extremely difficult to be conquered in the battle. He also saw other signs in the world: A different lustre was (noticed) in the stars, the moon and all (objects). The sheath of the world was opened (obscure); and the lustre of the sun was quite different. O king, Jālandhara who was disappointed again thought: ‘I have not seen that Pārvatī about whom Nārada told me much. Now how shall I see Pārvatī, seated on a perpetual place? First I shall go to see her, and after that I shall fight with Śiva.’

18-20a. Thinking like this with (i.e. in) his mind, the son of the Ocean spoke to demon Śumbha: “O brave one, O you, equal to me in heroism, in (the battle for) fierce victory, please fight after taking up a form similar to that of mine. The burden (i.e. the responsibility) of the camp and the army is (now) yours. I shall go to see that Pārvatī who has captivated my heart.”

20b-25. Speaking like this, he took down from his body ornaments and gave them to him. He also gave him the armour, the weapons etc., so also the chariot along with the charioteer. Then, O king, the son of the Ocean, along with Durvāraṇa, left the army, and unnoticed he went to the secret cave of that (part of Kailāsa) mountain to the north of Mānasa and took up Śiva’s form. Like that (i.e. like him) Durvāraṇa also had taken up the form like that of Nandin. Then the two, disguised as Śiva and Nandin, climbed up the mountain, on a peak of which Pārvatī along with her friends remained, O king. Seing him who was resting upon Nandin’s shoulder, coming (there) and pierced with arrows and seeing his garment smeared with blood, Pārvatī was amazed. Her friends like Jayā etc. being confused, went to him.

26-29. Going near Śiva (i.e. near Jālandhara who was disguised as Śiva), they, being very much afflicted, said to him: “O lord of gods, what has happened to you? By whom are you conquered in the battle? O lord how (is it that) you are distressed, and are weeping like an (ordinary) creature?” He who was thus addressed by them, gave separately (i.e. to each one of) them his ornaments. He slowly took down Vāsuki and others from his body. Seeing under his arm-pit, the heads of Gaṇeśa and Kārtikeya that were cut off, Pārvatī wept (saying): “O Skanda, O Gaṇeśa, O Rudra.” Then all her friends, emaciated through grief, wept.

30-38. At this time Nandin said to Jayā: “You (please) look after her. Maṇibhadra, Vīrabhadra, the brave Puṣpadanta, Dambhana, Dhūmatimira, and Kūṣmāṇḍa and others are killed in the battle. So also Caṇḍin, Bhṛṅgin, Kirīṭin, Mahākāla, Śṛṅkhalin, Caṇḍīṣa, Guptanetra, and Kāla and others are killed in the battle. O goddess, in the great battle I saw the heads of Gajānana and Kārtikeya whirling (round).” Saying so, he dropped them before her. Hearing these words of Nandin, and taking the heads of her sons, Pārvatī, saying, “O (my) son, O (my) son”, lamented loudly. (She said:) “O (Kārtikeya, the) enemy of Tāraka, how (is it that) you were killed by the Ocean’s son in the battle? You were consecrated by the gods as the general of their army when you were (just) three days old. O hero, how did you destroy (the demon) named Tāraka at that time? Did you fall on the ground because you were abandoned by Śiva? O son, I, who am luckless, have not seen the face of my daughter-in-law (i.e. your wife). O child, you have not enjoyed these pleasures which belong to the mundane existence. O dear Heramba, O Vīghneśa, O Lambodara, O Gajānana, O my son, who knocked you honoured (even) by the siddhas, on the battlefield. How and by whom was your vehicle, the mouse, killed?”

39-43. Gaurī (i.e. Pārvatī) who was lamenting like this, said to Śiva (i.e. to Jālandhara, who had disguised himself as Śiva) who was very much grieved: “O lord of gods, you are actually Rudra. You are Hara. Do not be afraid. Where has your bull gone? Is he killed by Jālandhara? What, dear to you whose body is wounded with arrows, should I do?” Then, on hearing the words of the goddess, Śiva, after heaving a sigh, said: “O darling, both your sons have been killed long back. Why do you lament in vain? O goddess, protect me now by giving me the contact of your body (i.e. by having sexual union with me).” Having heard these untimely and eager words of Śiva, Pārvatī said to the god: “You have not spoken proper words. O Śiva, the wise avoid sexual union when there is great grief, when fear is caused, at (the time of someone having) profound meditation, at (the time of) offering oblations, when having severe fever, at (the time of) a śrāddha, at (the time of) a march, and in the vicinity of the elders and the old.

44-49. How do you solicit me who am afflicted with grief, troubled by (the grief due to) my son’s death, weak, and languid with tears, and who am (mentally) sick?” Hearing these words of Bhavānī, that false Śiva (i.e. Jālandhara disguised as Śiva) who was fascinated by the beauty of Pārvatī, said with a selfish motive: “Those ladies (who) do not give (the pleasure of) sex to the afflicted men (i.e. their husbands) undoubtedly fall into the fierce Raurava (hell). O you beautiful lady, I am without my attendants, without my sons, and without intelligence. O you beautiful young lady, now I am without possessions and without everything. I am void of a good life. I have come here to ask you. Entering my house, I shall quickly cast my figure (i.e. kill myself). O Nandin, get up. We shall go to a holy place. Be before me (i.e. lead me). O dear wife, you go according to your desire. Give up your nature (of a royal wife).”

50-51. Hearing these words of the illusive Śiva, Pārvatī heaved a long sigh, and was paralysed by grief. When he was thus greatly agitated, she did not say anything for a moment. She who had fascinated the entire immobile and mobile world, was herself bewildered by him. I do not know (i.e. cannot conceive) the pain to the mind.